Data from: Patterns and drivers of spontaneous plant diversity in urban wastelands across 17 cities on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) is ecologically significant due to its
unique biodiversity and vulnerability to climate change and rapid
urbanization. Among its emerging urban habitats, wastelands with
relatively low anthropogenic disturbances offer key refuges and
stepping-stones for spontaneous plants. However, the patterns and drivers
of spontaneous plant diversity in these habitats remain poorly understood.
To address this, we surveyed spontaneous plant communities across 17
cities on the QTP. We found that native species dominated urban wasteland
flora (85.8%), whereas invasive species constituted over half (65.8%) of
the non-native species. The results showed that land-use legacy effects
and environmental filtering to shape community assembly. GLMM analyses
further reveal that the climatic background constitutes a key factor
shaping community diversity variations across the QTP, exerting the most
significant influence on species richness, particularly through
precipitation and wind speed. Urbanization and habitat quality factors
jointly shape the diversity structural characteristics of communities.
However, non-native and invasive species exhibit heightened sensitivity to
local habitat quality. Furthermore, differences between communities across
all groups were due to species turnover, though the driving factors
differed between groups. Native species exhibited stronger overall
ecological adaptability, whereas differences between communities of
non-native and invasive species were primarily driven by human disturbance
and habitat conditions. These findings underscore the ecological value of
urban wastelands on the QTP for biodiversity conservation and invasion
management under rapid urbanization and climate change.